Dark Age of Sigmar – Page 2

So the Lore of Yss project is just over two years old formally (Previously it was just “The Grunvale” till we expanded it), but far older in concept. My friend Phil and I started it properly so we could take advantage of the clean slate that the Age of Sigmar offered, allowing us to explore old concepts and build something that we could blend into the larger universe. The freedom to theme armies and realms was delightfully refreshing and we quickly came up with reams of background, armies and kingdoms in our heads. So much so that we are still trying to get it all on to paper so we can share it. Much of what we started was centered around a single region and its kingdoms, The Grunvale and the metropolitan city of Fyrdhathen (Fairhaven as it was). Once we established the core kingdoms, numerous others started forming and growing, their politics, their themes, and how they all interplay with each other. Naturally this has made writing down everything even more complicated.

Despite all of the kingdoms we’ve created, we have yet to actually make anything from those kingdom for the tabletop (bar a few rpg characters), instead focussing on Urzod’s mercenary greenskins, Budahks herd, and some of the Revenant forces that roam Yss. We may get round to making skirmish groups and RPG character for these other regions, but we may not. However, we want to share everything that we possibly can. So we plan on writing up some descriptors and army suggestions for the kingdoms we have so far in the hope that we, but more importantly so others, can potentially use them as guidelines and build one of the many and varied forces that inhabit Yss. I hope that some of you will at least take some inspiration from the forthcoming scrawlings and ruminations, and doubly hope that some of you may wish to join us in building Yss and a community around the concept.

The first three kingdoms we will cover will be the core ones that we have built up the most, The Kingdom of Esel, The Republic of Fyrdhathen, and the Mere March.

~ Mark Talmer & Phillip Starr

Introduction

In the primordial times before the Age of Myth and the coming of Sigmar, the mortal realms were forged, bound and molded by the magics they embodied. But in the aetheric void, the ash and embers of the reforging of the world-that-was came together to form the Shard Realms, a multitude of fragmentary worlds rendered into curious aspects by the debris that formed their mass, realmstone scoria and crystal fused into the essence of the shard realms creating strange fusions of magic that permeate the lands and infuse the environment, spawning creatures both fantastic and fel. The permutations of these fusions are endless, realms of fire and death burn in the void with a baleful glow, plains stalked by beasts of molten metal spawned of Chamon and Ghyran magic, cavernous deeps inhabited by shadowy beasts. These realms are only as limited as the realmstone that makes up their form, some only fusing a handful of types, to some riddled with debris from each of the realms creating a Shard Realm of infinite variety. The Shard Realm of Yss is such a place……

The Shard Realm of Yss

Yss is a shard realm filled with a myriad of environments, from the mundane to the reality defying. A realm of ancient kingdoms and fresh frontiers, treacherous oceans and unfathomable subterranean expanses. As such, its inhabitants are as varied and colourful as the places they inhabit.

In the Grunvale and its surrounding regions the Free People settled, building great cities and forging vast nations. In the distant west on the Al’Arkan peninsula, explorers led intrepid colonists from beyond Yss to settle the coastal regions, with powerful city states blossoming on the fringes of the great deserts, the vast savannahs, and primordial jungles. Amongst the alpine peaks of the Reach lies the great elven province of Ahmarha, its citizens hardy and pragmatic. In times of war, hunters, woodsmen, and pathfinders answer the call to protect their secluded alpine realm.

In the north lies the the Uilebheist Plateau, a nest for all manner of primal horrors too terrifying to describe. And beyond that is the Sundered Veil, a vast stretch of lands tainted and misshapen by fel magics during the Age of Chaos, a realm of unnatural horrors. Gibbering men cavorting amongst the ruins of lost kingdoms seeking eldritch power and the patronage of abyssal beings. To the east of the Uilebheist Plateau is the Isle of Elthuin. An ash choked volcanic landscape with vast tunnels that lead deep into the under realms below. Few travel there, the stories of the Ashen keeps sane folks away.

These are just a small number of the many realms, wild regions and savage hinterlands of Yss, there are many more to be explored and revealed. An endeavor I hope you will join me in……

~Jhez Al’Waide, Explorer and Scholar at the University of Fyrdhathen, Professor of Psariology, Amphiviology, and Yssian History. Author of the “The Fulminous Kings: The Concise Lineage of Esel’s Royalty” and “The Spined Merwyrm: The Fisherman’s Bounty”.

Illustration by Karl Kopinski

~ Written by Mark Talmer.

Tag: Dark Age of Sigmar

An Invitation…….

The Lore of Yss ~ An Introduction.